Mesopotamia Women Journalists’ Association (MKG) and Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) held a press conference on the death sentence against Kurdish journalist Pakshan Azizi, who is imprisoned in Iran.

On 23 July, Pakshan Azizi was sentenced to death in a trial on charges of ‘membership in groups involved in an armed uprising against the Islamic government’.

Speaking at the press conference, MKG Chair Roza Metina emphasised that journalists do not give up writing the truth despite all the pressures they face.

‘Journalists who write and share the truth have always been prosecuted,’ said Roza Metina.

Referring to the pressures against Kurdish journalists in Turkey, Roza Metina noted that the websites of the Mesopotamia Agency (MA) and JINNEWS have been blocked many times and that 8 journalists were sentenced in Ankara most recently. Stating that similar attacks continue in Eastern and Southern Kurdistan (Iran and Iraq), Roza Metina said that journalists are also targeted by attacks in Rojava.

Reacting to the Iranian regime's death sentence against journalist and human rights defender Pakshan Azizi, Roza Metina said: “Kurdish journalist Pakshan Azizi has always defended women's rights and stood up for the freedom of oppressed peoples. Pakshan Azizi, who wrote with the awareness that “the freedom of women is the freedom of society”, was sentenced to death by the Iranian regime for not bowing down.”

Roza Metina stated that Iran, with its monist and hostile policies, is trying to suffocate the desire for a free life and added: “We invite everyone to raise their voices against this unlawfulness that Pakshan Azizi is subjected to by the Iranian regime.”